Cartoons in the cinema - the greatest animated films

It’s 70 years since that mischievous scamp Pinocchio, one of Disney’s
best-loved characters, first enchanted cinema audiences, and to mark the
anniversary the film has been digitally restored for a new DVD release on
March 9. But which are the greatest big-screen cartoon creations? Here are
the contenders...

Disney’s first full-length feature (Pinocchio was the second) picked up a special award at the 11th Academy Awards, having been recognised as “a significant innovation, which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon”.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Before they had an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, Richard Williams received a “special achievement” award for directing the animated sequences in a film that will forever be best-remembered for the pneumatic seductress Jessica Rabbit, the sexiest 2D character ever.

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Another special-achievement nod, this time to John Lasseter “for his inspired leadership of the Pixar Toy Story team, resulting in the first feature-length computer-animated film”. Cowboy Woody and space ace Buzz led the way in modern animation techniques: nothing’s been the same since.

Shrek (2001)

The grumpy green giant was the first winner of the Animated Feature Oscar and deservedly so, although another charming Lasseter movie, Monsters Inc, was also a nominee that year. It’s just a shame that the Shrek sequels have been increasingly disappointing (and increasingly bigger at the box office).

Spirited Away (2002)

Hayao Miyazaki’s magical, dream-like fantasy features a little girl who stumbles into a wonderland filled with strange, sometimes scary beings, including an old crone, a giant baby and – weirdest of all – Okutaresama, the spirit of the river who absorbs all the rubbish tossed into it. Japan’s highest-grossing film ever.

Finding Nemo (2003)

Another Lasseter/Pixar triumph. Marlin the clown fish embarks on an underwater odyssey when his only son Nemo is netted by a scuba diver on the Great Barrier Reef and whisked away to a fish tank in Sydney. Perils include a hilarious encounter with Bruce, the great white shark who’s trying to go veggie.

The Incredibles (2004)

A family of superheroes living in suburban obscurity come out of retirement to save the world from the megalomaniac super-brat Syndrome, who lives on a tropical island of Bond-villain-style, high-tech excess. The beautifully rendered look of the film is both retro and ultra-modern: a visual delight.

Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

Brit whiz Nick Park won a fourth Oscar (the other three were for animated shorts) with his unlikely tale of gardening, prize vegetables and a monstrous bunny. Unlike most animation these days, Park’s films are created using Plasticine and stop-motion photography, which somehow underscores their essential eccentricity.

Happy Feet (2006)

There’s something vaguely perplexing about the fact that George Miller, director of Happy Feet, also made the Mad Max trilogy. But then his tale of singing-and-dancing penguins is laced with a warning about imminent environmental catastrophe that suggests a comparable dystopian future. Possibly.

Ratatouille (2007)

We may not expect sophisticated plotting in animated entertainment, but the premise here is so ludicrous (a farmhouse rat ends up a culinary genius in a Paris restaurant) that it almost wrecks the film. But not quite, mainly because it looks so stunning: savour particularly the way liquids – the river, a glass of wine – are rendered.

Wall.E (2008)

In the far distant future a little waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a journey into space, where he will determine the future of mankind. It’s vivid, engaging, intelligent – daring, even. But is it really a better film than the also nominated Kung Fu Panda? Which brings us to…

The 10 best of the rest

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Heart-warming, funny, and possibly the most visually ravishing animated film ever.

Bambi (1942)

Bucolic idyll shattered by gun crime.

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Sweeping spectacularly through the ballroom.

The Jungle Book (1967)

Loveable characters, great tunes. Swan song of the master, Walt Disney.

Belleville rendez-vous (2003)

Fantastical French frivolity with a frisson of fear.

The Lion King (1994)

Welcome to the cub.

The Simpsons Movie (2007)

Homer: “I can’t believe we’re paying to see something we get on TV for free!”